Cigarette igniter and dispenser



p F. C. ALUMBAUC-BH 296335593355 CIGARETTE IGNITER AND DISPENSER FiledSept. 24, 1955 7 JV TOJO INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE Frank C. Alumbaugh,St. Joseph, Mo., assignor to Meyer N. Leibowitz, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application September 24, 1935, Serial No; 41,844

3 Claims.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved cigarettedispensing and lighting device.

. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cigarettedispensing and lighting device susceptible of complete operation througha single control member.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved feedingmechanism operable to dispense cigarettes one by one from a magazine.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved cigaretteigniting means in operative combination with a cigarette dispenser.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved singlecontrol means operable to selectively ignite and dispense cigarettesgravityfed from a magazine.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved operativecombination of cigarette magazine, ash receiver, dispensing means andigniting means in a single unit susceptible of facilemounting andoperation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cigarettedispensing and igniting device which is inexpensive of manufacture,positive and efficient in operation and durable in use.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims andillustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the device, showing the position of theigniter and control knob; Fig. 2 is a side view showing the ignitermounting; Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; andFig. 4 is a bottom view partly broken away to show the interiorconstruction.

In the construction of the improvement as shown, the numeral [designatesa housing adapted to form the front, rear and side walls of a containerwhich housing is rectangular in plan and formed of sheet metal in anysuitable manner, the upper and lower ends thereof being open. The rearwall 2 of the housing I may be formed integrally with the rest of thehousing or may be a separate plate, as shown, fastened by means ofinterengaging ears to side walls of the housing, the latter constructionhaving merit from the standpoint of economy and facility of manufacture.A bracket 3 may be secured to the rear wall 2 in any suitable fashionand provides means whereby the device may readily be attached to anyconvenient supporting structure such as an automobile instrument panel.The upper end of the housing I may be close-d in any desired manner by ahinged or removable member, the closure member illustrated comprising ahollow cap 4 adapted to be telescopically received within andfrictionally held by the open end of said housing, a hole openingthrough the upper surface of the cap adapting the latter to use as anash receiver. Within and substantially closing the lower end of thehousing I, a plane plate 5 is transversely disposed with its rear marginnormally adjacent the rear Wall of said housing and its surfaceinclining forwardly and downwardly toward the front wall of the housing.Ears 6 depend from each end of the plate 5 adajcent side walls of thehousing I and are engaged by screws 1 horizontally disposed through saidside walls or through ears carried by the rear wall 2, thus pivotallymounting the plate 5 within and for limited oscillation relative to thelower end of the housing. The forward margin of the plate 5 is spacedfrom the front wall of the housing I a distance sufiicient to permit acigarette to pass therebetween when said plate is in its rearmostposition, and the material forming said plate is bent downwardly at saidforward margin, then rearwardly, then again downwardly for a space andfinally curved forwardly to terminate in a free edge lying insubstantially the same vertical plane with the forward margin firstmentioned, thus forming an arcuate, depending flange or lip on andbeneath the forward margin of the plate 5 and opening toward the frontwall of the housing I, as is clearly indicated at 8. The front wall ofthe housing 1 extends downwardly as far as the lip 8 and is curvedinwardly, as shown at 9, to provide a flange terminating in a free edgein closely. spaced opposition with that of the lip 8, the flange 9 andlip 8 thus cooperating to form a cup in which may be received a singlecigarette from the magazine above the plate 5. The plate 5 is yieldinglyheld in its normal, rearmost position by means of leaf-springs l0secured at their upper ends to the rear wall 2 of the housing andarranged with their free ends engaged through slots adjacent the rearmargin of the plate 5. Beneath the plate 5 and with its forward marginengaged in the curve formed on the forward margin of said plate ispositioned a slide bar I l which is held in place by means of ears l2struck out of 5 the plate 5 and bent forwardly over the rear margin ofsaid bar, thus mounting the bar for rectilinear reciprocation. One endof the bar II is bent downwardly and curved forwardly to terminate inobstructing relation with the cup-like 50 channel formed by the lip 8and flange 9, as indicated in Fig. 4 at I 3, and a knob-like handle I 4is fixed to the extension l3 and projects outwardly from the housing Ithrough a notch in the lower,

forward corner of one side wall thereof. The 55 the bar II is at onelimit of its travel.

arrangement thus far described completes the dispensing mechanism of theimprovement. Cigarettes loosely stored in the magazine of the housing Irest on the inclined surface of the plate and are fed forwardly bygravity to drop one by one into the channel defined by the lip 8 andflange 9 when said channel is unoccupied. With a cigarette in thechannel, downward pressure on the handle I4 acts to tilt the plate 8 andits attached elements about the screws I and lower the free margin ofthe lip 8 below the free margin of the flange 9, thus permitting thecigarette positioned in the channel to escape and drop from its support,the same action bringing the forward margin of the plate 5 forwardlybeneath the cigarettes remaining in the magazine and obstructing thethroat leading to the channel until the plate is returned to its normalposition. The springs Ill prevent the cigarettes from dropping behindthe plate 5 as the latter is oscillated and the motion of said plateacts to agitate the cigarettes in the magazine and prevent packing orbridging thereof. The rear wall 2 of the housing I is extended forwardlyand downwardly beneath the housing to terminate in a pair of spaced,upturned ears I5 positioned somewhat in front of the front wall of saidhousing, thus providing a carrier on which the cigarette discharged fromthe container may be received and held for convenient manual removal.

The igniter employed in the improvement forms part of a unitary assemblyadapted for ready removal and replacement relative to that side of thehousing I opposite the handle I4. As shown in Fig. 2, the igniterassembly comprises a base plate I6 adapted to overlie the rear lowercorner of that side of the housing I opposite the handle I4 where it isintersected and clamped in position by a screw I, interengaging earscarried by said plate and the housing serving to prevent rotation of theplate about said screw. Fixed to and insulated from the upper forwardcorner of the plate I6, an arm II extends forwardly to terminate in ashallow cup I8 opening toward and spaced outwardly from the adjacent endof the channel formed by the lip 8 and flange 8, an oblique brace I9being insulated from and rigidly connecting the lower forward corner ofthe plate I6 with the cup I8 to securely position the latter. Within andinsulated from the cup I8 is mounted a flat helix 2!) ofelectrically-heatable material, one end of said helix being connectedelectrically with the brace I9 and the other end thereof beingelectrically connected with the cup I8, and a wire or suitable conductor2I is operatively connected with the lower end of the brace I9 tocomplete one side of the circuit including the igniter. The switchcontrolling the igniter is formed as a part of the slide bar II andcomprises a finger 22 formed on and projecting longitudinally from theend of said bar adjacent the igniter, the free end of said finger beingpositioned to contact at times against the arm I1 and said finger havinga length such as to space its free end from the arm I! when The bar I Iis normally held with its finger 22 out of contact with the arm I! bymeans of a retractile coil spring 23 engaging between said bar and oneof the ears 6 and its travel under the influence of said spring islimited by stops carried by said bar in position to engage against theguide ears l2, travel of the bar in the other direction being limited bycontact of the finger 22 with the arm II. When the improvement ismounted on an automobile having a single wire circuit the conductor 2Iis connected with one pole of the source of electrical energy and themetallic parts of the improvement connect by means of the mounting screwor bolt with metallic parts of the automobile to provide the other sideof the circuit which may then be closed by contact of the finger 22 withthe arm IT to permit current to flow through the helix and heat thelatter. Where the circuit employed is of double wire type, the conductor2| is connected with one pole of the source of energy and a secondconductor is led from the other pole of the energy source to connectionwith the slide bar II or any metallic element of the improvementelectrically associated with said bar.

With the elements of the improvement assembled and arranged as abovedescribed, a cigarette rests in the channel formed by the lip 8 andflange 9 so long as there are loose cigarettes in the magazine and theplate 5 is in its normal position. To ignite the cigarette prior to itsdischarge from the device, inward pressure is applied to the handle I4and acts to move the slide bar II longitudinally to contact of itsfinger 22 with the arm II, thus completing the circuit to the helix 2|]and heating the latter. As the bar II is moved toward the igniter, theextension I3 engages against one end of the cigarette and moves thelatter longitudinally into engagement of its other end with the heatedconvolutions of the helix 20, the circulation of air between the cup I8and adjacent housing I developed by the heat generated by the helix 2!]being sufficient to insure rapid lighting of the cigarette end. Afterthe cigarette has been lighted, the bar II may be permitted to returnunder the influence 5;

of the spring 23 and downward pressure applied to the handle I4 todischarge the lighted cigarette against the ears I5 ready for smoking.It is to be noted that a single control is employed operable in twodirections to accomplish both functions of the device, hence saidcontrol may be operated selectively to effect either or both thelighting and dispensing functions.

Since many changes in the specific form, construction and arrangement ofthe elements shown and described may be had without departing from thespirit of the invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solelyby the scope of the appended claims rather than by any details of theillustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim:

1. In a cigarette dispensing and igniting device, a housing, a chamberin said housing adapted to contain cigarettes, a pivotally mounted plateforming the bottom wall of said chamber and being arranged to tiltforwardly relative to said housing, a plurality of cutout portionsdepending from said bottom plate, a depending arcuate flange formedalong the front edge of said plate and having a portion extendingrearwardly thereunder, a slide bar movably supported by said out outportions and said rearwardly extending flange portion, an abutment atone end of said slide bar positioned adjacent one end of the channeldefined by the arcuate face of said flange, an igniter carried by saidhousing adjacent the opposite end of said channel, and means for movingsaid slide bar and abutment toward said igniter whereby a cigarette maybe moved along said channel into contact with said igniter.

2. In a device of the character described, a housing arranged as amagazine for loose cigarettes, a tiltable bottom member in said housingformed with a depending, longitudinal flange arranged to automaticallyisolate a single cigarette from said magazine, a normally inactiveigniter carried by said housing adjacent one end of said flange, a barmounted for reciprocation on and beneath said bottom member, a finger onone end of said bar arranged to contact said igniter mounting at timesand energize the igniter, an offset on the other end of said bararranged to contact the end of a cigarette in said flange and move thelatter into end contact with said igniter, yielding means normallypositioning said bar at the limit of its range of travel remote fromsaid igniter, and a handle on the ofiset portion of said bar andextending without said housing, whereby said bar may be moved tosimultaneously energize said igniter and contact a cigarette therewith,said handle being arcuately movable to tilt the bottom member fordischarge of a cigarette from said flange.

3. In a cigarette dispensing and igniting device, a housing, a chamberin said housing adapted to contain cigarettes, a pivotally mounted plateforming the bottom wall of said chamber and being arranged to tiltforwardly relative to said housing, a plurality of cutout portionsdepending from said bottom plate, a depending arcuate flange formedalong the front edge of said plate and having a portion extendingrearwardly thereunder, a slide bar movably supported by said cutoutportions and said rearwardly extending flange portion, an ignitercarried by said housing adjacent one end of said flange, and means onsaid slide bar adjacent the other end of said flange for urging acigarette into igniting 15 relation with said igniter.

FRANK C. ALUMBAUGH.

